Sanitary shield for telephone transmitters



Get. 5, 1948. 1. v. WEISBROD SANITARY SHIELD FOR TELEPHONE TRANSMITTERS I Filed 001:. 12, 1946 mn hhHHHHH HIHHHUHH wh /414a ATTORNEY.

Patented Oct. 5, 1948 SANITARY SHIELD FOR TELEPHONE TRAN SMITTERS Ivan Vernon Weisbrod, Douglaston, N. Y., assignor to Alexander A. Sackey, New York, N. Y.

Application October 12, 1946, Serial No. 703,086

6 Claims. (Cl. 179-185) This invention relates to attachments for the mouthpieces of telephone transmitters and other voice transmitters such as those of dictating ma chines and has for its principal objects the provision of a compact, cheap and effective shield for such mouthpieces which is easy to apply thereto and to remove therefrom and which while in no way interfering with the transmission of the voice into the mouthpiece serves to completely protect the user of an instrument equipped therewith from the possibility of infection from bacteria present in such mouthpieces. Other objects of the invention are hereinafter set forth.

Heretofore, as I am well aware, it has been proposed in Patents No. 781,385, No. 1,474,186, No. 1,493,557 and No. 1,576,305 to provide shields for telephone transmitters and accordingly I do not broadly claim herein a sanitary shield for the mouthpieces of such transmitters but have restricted the claims to the novel features of my improved shield.

My improved sanitary shield is so constructed that it lends itself to being formed into a pad which can be conveniently carried in the coat pocket of a user and can also be dispensed to the public in automatic vending machines.

The invention is fully set forth in the following description and drawings forming a part thereof in which latter Figure 1 is a rear elevation of a pad composed of a plurality of pliable sheets all of which are secured in superimposed relation to a backing or support member;

Fig. 2 is a vertical section, taken on the line 2-2 of Figure l but with all the sheets of said pad removed except the last or bottom sheet;

Fig. 3 is an elevation, partially in section, showing the pad with the single pliable sheet, as illustrated in Fig. 2, in position on the mouthpiece of a so-called French phone; and

Fig. 4 is a view, similar to Fig. 3, but showing the single sheet pad illustrated in Fig. 2 in position on the mouthpiece of a telephone transmitter of the type installed in the telephone booths of pay stations.

Referring to the drawings and the construction shown therein, the reference numeral l designates a fragment of the grip member of a telephone transmitter, 2 a flared ring secured thereto, 3 the circular end flange of the mouthpiece of the transmitter which is threaded on to said terminal ring and 4 the cup-shaped free end of the mouthpiece.

The reference numeral 5 designates the support or backing member of a pad, which is preferably composed of stiff glazed card-board such as used in letter files as a cover sheetand 6 the central aperture in said support which is of a size to snugly receive the end flange 3 when the same is encased in one of the pliable sheets I, desirably formed of tissue paper or co-called onion skin paper. The respective sheets of the pad are overlapped on each other and are overlapped on the support to form flaps such as indicated by the reference numeral 8 and such sheets are cemented, glued or otherwise united together along the flap portions thereof and the innermost sheet as shown in Figs. 2 and 3 is in turn cemented, glued or otherwise secured to the support along the upper margin thereof.

The construction of the shield shown in Fig. 4 is identical with that shown in Fig. 3 and is shown in position on the circular flange 3' of a pivotally mounted transmitter of the type usually found in the booths of telephone pay stations. Such transmitter mouthpieces have an abbreviated inlet cone 4' but this in no way interferes with the positioning of my improved protective shield on that type of mouthpiece.

As is apparent from the aforesaid description of my improved shield, the same can be readily positioned on the mouthpiece of a telephone or like voice transmitter merely by selecting the sheet of the pad which is nearest adjacent to the support or backing member 5, then throwing back the other sheets of the pad so as to lie back against the handle I of the transmitter when the selected sheet of pliable material is lying across the mouthpiece, and then the support member is fitted over the mouthpiece while the same is encased by the pliable sheet and caused to assume the position shown in Fig. 3. The shield can be quickly removed from the mouthpiece merely by forcing the support forwardly toward the free end thereof and then the crumpled sheet of pliable material which has been used is removed from the pad, whereupon the support with the remaining sheets of pliable acoustic paper or the like can be placed in the pocket of the user to be kept there until the next opportunity arises for using the same.

The fact that my shield is adapted to be marketed in the form of a pad renders it especially desirable for the reception of suitable advertisements which can be imprinted either on the rear support or backing member or in any desirable location on the component sheets of such pad.

While the pliable sheets of the pad, especially if formed of onion skin paper or other extremely thin but relatively impervious paper, affords very substantial protection against the passage of bacteria from the mouthpiece to the mouth of the user, I preferably impregnate a pliable sheet with a relatively weak substantially non-volatile disinfectant, such for example as a 5% aqueous solution of phenol or other common disinfectant.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim and1d'esireto secure by Letters Patent is: 1. A sanitary shield for the mouthpiece of a voice transmitter, comprising a thin sheet of tissue paper of a size to completely extend acrossthe open end of such a mouthpiece andto, encase a portion of the outer lateral wall thereof: and an apertured support member, formed of a sheet of relatively stiff material, associated-With said pliable sheet, the aperture in the support member being of a size to snugly receivetheopen end of the mouthpiece of a voice transmitter when the same is so encased by said pliable sheet and to firmly maintain the latter in position on said mouthpiece;

'2. Ina sanitary shield, for the mouthpiece of a voice-transmitter as claimed in1olaim-5; wherein one'edgeof the pliable sheet isyadhesively united to one margin of the support member.

8.- In a sanitary shield forthe mouthpieceof a voice transmitter as claimed in claim 5 wherein the pliable sheet is impregnated; with-1amild disinfectant composition which is harmless to the user'of the-mouthpiece: that is-.-encased by said pliable-sheet.

4-. Ina sanitary shieldfor" the mouthpiece of a voice transmitteras claimed. in claim 5, Wherein the pliable-sheet is marginally united: to the margin of the support member:

5'. In a sanitary shield for the mouthpiece of a voice transmitter, the combination comprising a padmember composed of a plurality .of sheets :of

extremely thin, pliable, vibrant material having a relatively rigid, apertured sheet constituting a backing member for said pad, said pliable sheets being adhesively united along one edge thereof to a margin of the rigid sheet, and each of said pliable sheets being of a size to extend across the open end of a mouthpiece of a voice transmitter and'to encase theouter lateral wall thereof and the aperture in the backing element of the pad being of a size to snugly receive the open end of such a mouthpiece when so encased by a pliable sheet.

6. In a sanitary shield for the mouthpiece of a voice transmitter, the combination comprising a pad member composed of a plurality of sheets of extremely thin pliable, vibrant material having a relatively rigid, apertured sheet constituting a backing for said pad, said pliable sheets being united together adjacent to one margin thereof and also being united to said backing member adjacent one margin of-thelatter, and the pliable sheets being each of a sizeto span the opening of the mouthpiece of a voice transmitter and to cheese aportionof the-outer wall of such mouthpiece and the aperture in the backing member being; of a size to snugly receive the mouthpiece when scammed by a pliable sheet.

IVAN VERNON WEISBROD.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date,

843,940 Grimm Feb. 12, 1907 844,949 Macgill Feb; 19, 1907 913,792 Williams Mar. 2,1909 

